Tuesday, November 15, 2016

The New York Times is Shocked...SHOCKED to Discover that it is Not the Center of the Universe

For starters, it’s important to accept that the New York Times has always — or at least for many decades — been a far more editor-driven, and self-conscious, publication than many of those with which it competes. Historically, the Los Angeles Times, where I worked twice, for instance, was a reporter-driven, bottom-up newspaper. Most editors wanted to know, every day, before the first morning meeting: “What are you hearing? What have you got?”

It was a shock on arriving at the New York Times in 2004, as the paper’s movie editor, to realize that its editorial dynamic was essentially the reverse. By and large, talented reporters scrambled to match stories with what internally was often called “the narrative.” We were occasionally asked to map a narrative for our various beats a year in advance, square the plan with editors, then generate stories that fit the pre-designated line.

Reality usually had a way of intervening. But I knew one senior reporter who would play solitaire on his computer in the mornings, waiting for his editors to come through with marching orders. Once, in the Los Angeles bureau, I listened to a visiting National staff reporter tell a contact, more or less: “My editor needs someone to say such-and-such, could you say that?”

The bigger shock came on being told, at least twice, by Times editors who were describing the paper’s daily Page One meeting: “We set the agenda for the country in that room.”

Having lived at one time or another in small-town Pennsylvania, some lower-rung Detroit suburbs, San Francisco, Oakland, Tulsa and, now, Santa Monica, I could only think, well, “Wow.” This is a very large country. I couldn’t even find a copy of the Times on a stop in college town Durham, N.C. To believe the national agenda was being set in a conference room in a headquarters on Manhattan’s Times Square required a very special mind-set indeed.

Well there was a time when that was perfectly true. Thirty years ago you could watch a story on TV tomorrow or read about it in The Times today. They actually did decide what was a story and what wasn't.

A certain degree of myopia is to be expected from journalists. They are treated like they are experts on every subject they write about, consequently they tend to believe that they are. This naval gazing will be particularly vibrant when the reporters in question are New Yorkers. New Yorkers have always had a habit of referring to NYC as, "The City," in the same way that stone age tribesmen refer to themselves as The Humans. When what they really mean is The Only Humans, everyone else is just food that talks.

“As The Times begins a period of self-reflection, I hope its editors will think hard about the half of America the paper too seldom covers,” wrote Spayd.

She continued: “The red state America campaign coverage that rang the loudest in news coverage grew out of Trump rallies, and it often amplified the voices of the most hateful. One especially compelling video produced with footage collected over months on the campaign trail, captured the ugly vitriol like few others. That’s important coverage. But it and pieces like it drowned out the kind of agenda-free, deep narratives that could have taken Times readers deeper into the lives and values of the people who just elected the next president.”

In short The Times is promising to do better.

They will get over it, naturally.

After all if they got to know us too well, there is the chance that they might admit to themselves that they are wrong...about everything. That can't happen. Not at The Times.

2 comments:

A story you might find interesting. I was at a high school football game a few months back. It was deep, deep in deplorable territory. Southwest Virginia to be exact, about 60 miles away was a high school with the Confederate Battle Flag painted on the doors. It was that deplorable. The senior players were escorted out by their parents. One boy's mother was a white blonde, but his father was black. The black guy walked out on that field with his blonde wife bold as punch, didn't shit hit pants or nothing. Didn't even act like he was afraid. He seemed almost comfortable amongst all those deplorables. They themselves hardly seem to notice him, it was very uncharacteristic for such hateful people. You would have imagined they were waiting to waylay him outside the stadium, but no he watched the game and as far as I know went his way with his family in peace. It was a sorry showing of deplorability.